Anyone who is addicted to reading bus tickets or cereal packets will understand the appeal of poems on the underground. Some years ago，a few acquaintances who lived and worked in London，who used the Tube and loved poetry，decided that it would be pleasant to read a few lines by their favorite poets as they traveled around by Tube，instead of just glancing upwards at the tiresome advertisements. The underground had a surplus (剩余的) of advertising space on the trains. They suggested filling the blank space on the trains，for the entertainment of the traveling public.
The poems took on a new life when they were removed from books and placed alongside the adverts. Commuters enjoyed the idea of reading Keats. “Much have I traveled in the realms of gold” on a crowded Central Line train，or trying to learn by heart a sonnet between Hammersmith and Piccadilly. The choice of poems wasn’t arbitrary (随机的) but specially chosen. It catered for (符合) all tastes including living and dead poems from the homeland and from all over the English speaking world，and especially poems which have association with London.
The success of the poems on the underground enterprises confirmed that Britain was a nation of poetry lovers. Hundreds of people corresponded with London Underground suggesting poems，or just to say thank you. In January 1989，on the third anniversary after the first poems on the Underground，London Underground promised to donate all the spaces free，to increase the number available (at least one poem in each train carriage)，and to pay for the production costs as well. They also update the poems every few months. Posters of the poems decorated the British Council libraries throughout the world，but the best way to view the poems is to see them by yourselves，on whichever train you choose，in every zone of the network－for the price of an underground ticket.
1. Which of the following is the best title for the passage?| A．Shelly and Keat’s Poems | B．The Poems on the Underground |
| C．Travelling on the Tube in London | D．The Poems about London |
| A．removed from books and placed in empty advertising spaces |
| B．taken from throughout the English speaking world and chosen to please everyone |
| C．including poems about London by Shelly，Burns，Keats and by the commuters themselves |
| D．meant to be read aloud and learnt by heart |
| A．connection. | B．difference. |
| C．similarity. | D．comparison. |
| A．People who like reading bus tickets advocate poems on the underground. |
| B．Spaces which were used for advertisements are now completely occupied by poems on the tube. |
| C．You can appreciate the poems you like at the cost of only a tube ticket in London. |
| D．The success of the poems on the underground indicates people’s love for the tube of London. |
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【推荐1】In order to kill time, many people have been trying to cope with the boredom by reading books, others have perfected their cooking skills and many others have tried their hands at craft projects, including tie dyeing (扎染).
Whether you think tie-dye is totally stylish or not your style, the unique print from the 1960s is back in a major way. It’s become a hot fashion trend.
“The last several years have seen the resurgence in craftsmanship and handmade goods, popularizing the hobbies in the 1960s (weaving, tie-dyeing), but in a modern way. People would connect with these handmade objects to feel connected to nature,” Stitch Fix color expert Ryen Anderson said to Today. Online searches for “how to crumple (压皱) tie-dye”, a popular technique, are u by 376 percent on Pinterest.
This homestyle creation can easily be made at home. The only things we need to prepare include fabric. light-colored clothes, dye, rubber, and water. In tie-dye, the fabric is colored by tying several parts of the fabric before dying to give certain color effects. While this seems relatively simple, it takes multiple steps and washes.
Some people make tie-dye adjust old-fabrics in an innovative way. Some others use tie-dye technique to create a new pattern as the color of their clothes fades. The typical current trend is that people use natural coloring for tie-dye and combine it with doodles (涂鸦) and natural printing ( eco-printing) by abstracting colors from the leaves.
The dyeing technique has deep roots from Africa. Many immigrants from various African countries brought their skills to the United States during the 1700s to 1800s. The popularity of tie-dye then was quite influential in the 1960s or commonly referred to as “flower power” generation. Tie-dye became a symbol in that times.
1. What is the purpose of the first paragraph?| A．To lead to the topic of the text. | B．To create a cultural atmosphere. |
| C．To show how leisure the life is. | D．To imply what people do to kill time. |
| A．New research. | B．Return and growth. |
| C．Modern exhibition. | D．Birth and disappearance. |
| A．The process of tie-dyeing. | B．The effects of fabric coloring. |
| C．The materials used for tie-dyeing. | D．The technique applied to tie-dyeing. |
| A．Adjusting old clothes. | B．Designing diverse patterns. |
| C．Recovering the faded colors. | D．Obtaining colors from plants. |
【推荐2】Use this list of winter festivals to plan your trip or plan around them, as many of these festivals will tie up transport and accommodations and drive up prices. It’s all up to you: either plan your travel dates around them, or arrive early enough to jump into the festive atmosphere!
Lighting Festival
A day-trip away from South Korea’s capital Seoul, the Garden of Morning Calm is a must-see during the Festival. The lights there cover an area of some 330,000 square meters, using 30,000 colorful LED lights hanging from the trees. Wander around the fairy-like wonderland created by the lights-through such fields like Bonsai Garden, Moonlight Garden, and the Garden of Eden.
·Where: Gapyeong County, South Korea
·When: December-Mid-March
Harbin Ice Festival
Millions of tourists visit this icy festival every year, drawn by the massive ice sculptures that decorate the fairgrounds next to Songhua River. The sculptures, ice palaces, mazes and slides are simply massive in scale, constructed from some 260,000 cubic yards of ice blocks harvested from the river. They range in size from life-scale carvings of animals and fantastic creatures, to massive 250-foot structures that tower over the crowds.
·Where: Harbin, China
·When: January 5-February 5
Sapporo Snow Festival
Japan’s biggest winter festival has expanded in size and scope since its first celebration in 1950.The Festival covers two main sites in Sapporo. The centerpiece Odori Park site features some 100 ice sculptures dazzlingly lit up after dark. The Susukino district site features a smaller scale of ice sculptures decorating the district. The sculptures cover animals both real and fantastic, including anime-based creatures like Pokemon. Visitors can also enjoy snow mazes, street food, musical performances and skating on the ice rink near Odori Park.
·Where: Sapporo, Japan
·When: February 4-11
Sky Lantern Festival
The Pingxi Sky Lantern Festival in Taiwan, China is Taiwan’s most visited lantern festival, lighting the skies with floating lanterns bearing messages for the gods. Its counterpart in the Yangshui District favors a noisier kind of illumination-the Tainan Yanshui Fireworks Display takes place at Tainan’s Wumiao Temple, where locals dare to be hit by small fireworks as a test of their strength and to ward off evil.
·Where: Pingxi and Yangshui, Taiwan, China
·When: February
1. Which winter festival has the longest duration?| A．Lighting Festival. | B．Harbin Ice Festival. |
| C．Sapporo Snow Festival. | D．Sky Lantern Festival. |
| A．All of the sculptures in Harbin are massive in size. |
| B．Sapporo Snow Festival has a history of over 70 years. |
| C．The sculptures in Sapporo are smaller than those in Harbin. |
| D．Visitors can enjoy colorful lights in Seoul during Lighting Festival. |
| A．To encourage visitors to experience winter festivals. |
| B．To popularize well-planned visits to potential customers. |
| C．To promote a better understanding of winter festivals among the public. |
| D．To offer information to help winter festival enthusiasts make good plans. |
【推荐3】The Longtaitou Festivl, which means “dragon-raises head” in Chinese, is a traditional Chinese festival held on the second day of the second month in the Chinese lunar calendar. So, it’s also called Eryueer Festival. In Chinese culture, the dragon is an auspicious (吉利的) animal that dominates clouds and rains. The 2nd day of the 2nd lunar month is thought to be the day when dragon awakes and raises its head according to the Chinese folk legend. So the day is called Dragon Heads-raising Day. After the day, spring is coming and there will be more and more rain. People think these credits (功劳) go to the dragon. So the day is also called Spring Dragon Festival. Since the Tang Dynasty (618-907 AD), Chinese people have had the custom of spending the Spring Dragon Festival.
The most popular custom on the Dragon Heads-raising Day is cutting hair. Dragon is highly honored for its dignity (尊贵) and power for good. It is thought to be auspicious to cut hair on the Dragon Heads-raising Day. Luck and opportunities will always knock you in the year. So, on that day, barbershops’ (理发店的) businesses are growing and full of customers.
The most common foods for celebrating the festival are popcorns, pancakes, noodles, dumplings, fired soy beans and pig’s head. People in different areas have different traditions about the food on the day. In Beijing, people eat Lvdagunr (Glutinous Rice Rolls with Sweet Bean Flour) and spring pancakes on the day. In Shanxi, people like to eat fried dough twists (油条) and pancakes. In Shandong, fried soy beans, noodles and dumplings are the festival food. In Fuzhou, the salted porridge made of glutinous rice, celery, scallion, garlic, fry dried shrimps and shredded meat is eaten. These show people’s hope to be blessed (保佑) with favorable weather and plentiful grain harvest by the dragon.
1. Which of the following is true about the Longtaitou Festival?| A．It dates back to Song Dynasty. |
| B．It is celebrated for two days. |
| C．It attracts fewer people than other festivals. |
| D．It suggests the return of spring. |
| A．It is the most popular custom. |
| B．It is in honor of dragon’s dignity and power. |
| C．It is people’s wish for luck and opportunities. |
| D．It is a sign of barbershops’ prospering businesses. |
| A．People in China share the similar traditional foods on he day. |
| B．Foods for celebrating the festival usually bear people’s best wishes. |
| C．Salted foods are used to celebrate the festival throughout China. |
| D．Traditional foods on the day are prepared for the dragon to eat. |
| A．The Dragon Heads-raising Day. |
| B．The celebrations of the Longtaitou Festival. |
| C．The origin of the Longtaitou Festival. |
| D．The purpose of the Dragon Heads-raising Day. |
